Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



1. SMIT Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

No. 42.542. Patented Apr. 26, 1864.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

ISAAC SMITILOF NEXV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO IIIMSELF, CORNELTUS B.

DEBAUN, AND JOHN B. MORRELL, OF SAME PLACE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,542, dated April 26, 1864.

To all whom it 111/1117], Concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC SMITH, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,

and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a central longitudinal vertical section of the principal parts of afire-arm with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same. Fig-'. 3 is a transverse section of the same in the planes indicated by the lines as m in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a trans- Verse section of the same in the planes indicated-by the lines y-yin Figs-l and 2. Fig. 5 is a plan of the cartridge-shell extractor and the hook attached to the breech-piece for operating it. 1

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in a novel mode of applying a safety-bolt in combination with the movablebreech-piece of abreech-loading firearm, for the purpose of preventing the 11ammer from coming down and firing the cartridge while the breech-piece is open.

' It also consists in a certain novel arrange- .ment of an extractor for extracting discharged metallic cartridge-shells from the barrel of a breech-loading fire-arm, and certain novel and simple means of operating the same.

To enableothers skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

\ A is the frame 'of the arm, having the ban rel B screwed into it in the usual manner, and having. in its upper part, in rear of the barrel, a transverse'groove or mortise, a a, for the reception of the movable breech-piece O, which opens and closes witha swinging movement about the axis of a horizontal pin, 1), which is' arranged parallel with the bore of the barrel in suitable hearings in the frame Aat the lefthand side of the fire-arm. The breech-piece is firmly secured to the said pin b, so that the latter turns in its bearings as the breech-piece opens and closes. In rear of this pin, and in front of the hammer, is arranged the safetybolt D, which works transversely to the hammer against the flat rear face, 0 c, of the frame A, being attached to the said face by means ofa screw, (1, which passes through a horizon tal slot, (2, in the bolt and, screws into the frame. The said bolt is furnished with a tongue, 7,- on its inner face to work in a groove,8, in the face 0, as shown in Fig. 1, for the purpose'of guiding the bolt. The rear end of the pin 1) is flush with the face 0 c, and has secured in or formed upon it an eccentricwrist, f, Figs. 2 and 4, which enters an upright slot, f, in the safety-bolt. This wrist is'so arranged that as the breech-piece is moved from the closed to the open position the said wrist moves the safety-bolt to the right and brings it under or in front of the hammer H, as shown in Fig. 2, whereit re mains while the breech is open, and that as the breech-piece is moved from the open to the closed position the said wrist moves back the said bolt to the position shown in Fig. 4,

entirely on the left side of the hammer; where it will not interfere with movements of the latter. .This arrangement of and mode of operating the safety-bolt is extremely simple, requiring no mechanism but the wrist f, and the bolt being applied without mortising'or cutting"- away or otherwise weakening the frame A. I

E is the cartr1dge-extraet0r, arranged to work in the lower part of the transverse groove or mortise a a of the frame upon a fixed screw-pin, g, and partly entering a transverse groove, 2', which is formed in the portion of the frame in front of the grooves a a andbelowthe barrel. The said extractor consists of a short finger having its end'turned upward, as shown at h in Figs. 1, 2, and 3,

for the purpose of entering anotch in the bottom of the barrel, and catching behind the fiangeof the metallic cartridge-shell, and

having on its front side, nearly opposite the.

pin a tooth, j, which is operated u on by a hook, k, for the purpose of throwing back the finger and making it withdraw the shell from the barrel. The extractor is partly covered by a plate, Z, which fits into the groove a and closes the right-hand end of the groove z, the said plate being kept in place by the screwpin The hook k, above mentioned, is attached to or made in same piece with a slide,

F, which works in the groove i. 'This slide has in its rearface a recess, m, for the reception of a pin, 12, attached to the breech-piece O, for producing the movement of the said slide transversely to the fire-arm, by which the hook kis made to operate the extractor,

The recess m is of'such length that the pin n may move some distance within it without moving the slide, whereby permitting the breech-piece to move out of the way of the cartridgc shell before" the extractor vbegins to move. When the breech-piece is closed, the

hook 7a of the'slide F is in the position rela tively to the tooth j of the extractor shown in Fig 5 in black outline, and when in the opening movement of the breech-piece the pin n has arrived at the left hand of the recess m the continued movement ofthe breech-piece draws the slide F to the left and causes the hook to throwback the extractor, as shown in red outline in Fig. 5, very quickly, and make it pull or throw out the shell. As the extractormo'ves back, the tooth j, moving'in' a circle, gradually withdraws itself from the hook k, and finally escapes therefrom altogether, and the extractor is then thrown forward under the barrel by means of a spring, 19, applied behind it for the purpose, In the closing movement of the breech-piece the pin it comes against the right-hand endof the recess m and moves back the slide F to the right,

and in this movement the hook k, coming in.

contact with the tooth j, iscaused to slip over thesaidtooth by its being made sufiiciently elastic for the purpose.

' What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1.; The safety-bolt D, arranged, as described,

"to work' transversely to the hammer, and operated by means of an eccentric-wrist, f, on the rear end of the pin '12 of the breech-piece, substantially as herein specified.

2. The cartridgeiextractor E, swinging hori- -zontally about. a pin, 9, furnished with a tooth. .j, and actuated by means of a hook, k, which is combined .with a transversely swinging breech-piece, the whole arranged and operating substantially as-herein specified.

ISAAC SMITH. Witnesses: v

M. M. LIVINGSTON, THEo, TUSCH. 

